Legal Tragedy for Unemployed Divorced Men & Fathers

I am writing this to make this Legal Tragedy better known and also in hope that someone could help the thousands of us in this tragic situation.

Like many Americans at this time, I have been laid off. This in itself is bad enough for most Americans, but those of us that have been divorced face a Legal Tragedy that is against The Constitution and all moral concepts. Men are almost exclusively affected by what I am about to tell you. This shows the discrimination of the courts and the laws in this country.

Since I have been laid off, I am only “earning” unemployment insurance, which is only 16.6% of my previous gross income. I therefore cannot pay the alimony and child support that the courts ordered in my divorce in Florida. I do not even have enough money for my own expenses. The courts in Florida are looking at finding me in contempt of court because of non-payment. They would therefore put me in jail along with countless others for the same reason. This makes no legal or moral sense in many ways:

1. If I was still married and got laid off, would the courts care, of course not! The family would have to do what they could to survive. But, since I have been divorced, and there is no relationship anymore, I’m supposed to support them over supporting myself, otherwise go to jail. How does this make any logical, moral or legal sense? Why is it that since I am divorced I have a greater financial responsibility than I ever did when I was married? Why should all of my rights be taken away because I am unemployed now, and yet my ex-wife is suppose to maintain the same or better lifestyle as when I was employed? This again, would not be the case if I were still married. This shows that divorce laws take precedence over basic human rights and are stronger laws than marriage itself, which is a bond with God.

2. If I’m in jail, how am I supposed to find a job? After being in jail, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to ever find a good job again!

3. This type of incarceration was abolished with the 13th Amendment. Which prohibits Involuntary Servitude. Also 8 USCA-56 prohibits Peonage.

Why should my life and other’s be completely destroyed just because we were ever married and now unemployed?

Isn’t the fact that I, and many others have lost our jobs enough of a tragedy in itself? How does completely destroying the rest of our lives solve anything? In this situation, what could any of us ever do to help ourselves?

I was extremely involved in the 2000 Presidential election, supporting George Bush. I lived and worked in Austin, Texas, but I was still a registered voter in Florida. The government and country that I so dearly loved and put so much energy into, has now let me down.

"i dont want to read the links to the 'womens sites'"

MensNewsDaily.com?
LOL!

Although the news site does publish the work of writers who are mostly men, women writers and readers are, of course, also welcome and do show some interest.

The following, as in many of my posts and replies, is information for all and is not directed at any one person.

"A Conscientious Objector to the Gender War"
by Wendy McElroy (writer for the Fox News site)
Excerpted Quote:
"This is the key to understanding the cult of victimhood surrounding PC feminism."

"Pit Bull Trainers and Feminists"
by Amber Pawlik
Quote:
"...then an appropriate incident must be invented to remind your constituents of their victimhood.”

"Feminist Fighting"
by Wendy McElroy
Quote:
"Reasonable people are now automatically skeptical of victimhood. Humane people now reserve their compassion until more evidence is in."

The most often used tactic of radical feminists to censor their opposition (the rest of us) is to present themselves as victims by way of false accusations, often implied with indirect, roundabout language. The victimhood tactic is used against Republican politicians, conservative university instructors, ministers, family/fathers' rights writers and speakers, publishers and others. The tactic is often used in attempts to invoke a sort of false chivalry and divide conservatives against one another in our own forums and other associations.

Most of the rest of us remain faithfully objective and analytical.

LOL i actually did take a look at your link to the mens site earlier when i clicked on your profile;)

okay...i havent clicked on any of the other links, but help me out here..this victimhood mentalility, that is what my X is using on me, he is the victim here and its working or has worked up until recently. of course he is the perp, but thats another long and ugly story. so does this come from his liberal roots? is this mens group he belongs too associated with the liberals as well? im SO confused LOL they seem to be simular to the liberal women but the mindset is all screwed up the other direction (or maybe its not, i try not to read liberal rantings, maybe you could enlighten me).
in this movement the man is always the victim (but not the same as what the consv. men are talking about)..if he fondles his children, he is misunderstood, if he beats his wife, its her fault (our court ordered evaluator actually said this as well) she said it was my fault for not being firmer in saying "no" thou she reports later that our son did say "no" but his dad just "kept on" BUT it was our sons fault for being "too sensitive" that it was perfectly normal for a father to kick his child in the face, leaving cuts and bruises and to suffocate him to tears and gasping with pillows ect. the whole report contradicts itself from one end to the other.
is this a part of the liberal agenda too? i realize alot of men and women are all into this "if it feels good its okay" mode. im really serious thou in trying to understand. the liberals make my head spin...what kindve group am i dealing with and how do i counter it? any words of wisdom??

Credibility and evidence should be considered in divorce
cases, yet they are not. Divorce law is a travesty in
the USA and other western culture countries for lack of
due process.

I am in favor of ridding our countries of "no-fault"
divorce. If we rid our countries of no-fault divorce,
those who present credible testimony and evidence
would be more likely chosen parents of their children.
The children, as a result, would have parents who
can teach them morality, and our world would be less
violent.

So I agree with Phyllis Schlafly on that. She often
advocates for the rights of fathers and men (for example,
her recent rebuttal against our Bush Administration
caving in to support the feminazi Title IX waste).

And yes, socialist liberal anarchists (like feminists)
have been defiling our law to enforce automatic mother
custody and false accusations, pushing the divorce rate
up (but more recently, pushing cohabition without
marriage up) for over 100 years.

Physical assaults and child rape are easily proven in
criminal courts by way of testimony combined with medical
reports. Both involve hard, physical evidence, doctors'
statements and so forth.

All else is the garbage that male and female feminists
(a very small minority in our population) are trying to
impose on the minds of the majority. They complain of
nonexistant epidemics of sex crimes, while promoting
things like incest and homosexuality (the APA, Div. 51
and others). We should recognize doublemindedness like
that and expose it more widely.

Our Constitution was not written to catch all criminals
who commit crimes. It was written to give us a fighting
chance to catch all criminals we can prove cases against.
We should not defile it for any special interest group to
include imprisonments for the innocent along with the
guilty, and our world will never be perfect. For example,
the tens of thousands of men recently exonerated and let
out of prisons in our several western culture countries
after DNA evidence showed they were never guilty of the
rape they were accused of and imprisoned for.

Feminist rape religion and associated accusations were
responsible for most of the lynchings of men (mostly
African-American men) in the USA between 1880 and 1930.
Susan B. Anthony advocated against the vote for African-
American men as of 1867 (when she and her friends toured
with and wrote for George Train, the notorious racist)
and refused to speak out against the lynchings.

I did my best to do what i could, 2 counselors reported to the courts that he was physically abusing, emotionally and psychologically abusing his son (there were court ordered supervised visits), BUT the court ordered evaluator said it was NOT abuse, that it was absolutly normal for a dad to treat his child this way. this is the same evaluator that took our mmpi's and his score was off the charts as an anti social personality aka sociopath and a patholigical liar, but rather than tie that in with the evidence she buried it and refused to allow other psych proffesionals to examine his raw data scores. thus my problem with the courts. counselors still mantain that he is abusing his son, but the commissioner wont listen because HIS professional says nothing is wrong. aside from anything criminal there isnt anything i can do but hope they open thier eyes. is this some little "group" that all sticks together? seems the entire "its for the chillldreen" is a crock (but i already new that lol). he continues to get away with psychological battering our son and the courts continue to allow him to fire any counselor that contradicts him or their professionals. what gives???

this is a slow moving thread LOL anyways, some things probally seem very weird, but to explain the whole thing would take pages of this thread.
just for info this court ordered evaluator has a record. after the evaluation i requested copies of her record from the APA. she has 4 counts of fraud and misrepresentation, hows that for squeaky clean. all the same complaints as with my case, among worse and one for practicing without a license! yet not a single attny in that county will file a petition to have the case reopened and examined, even with the previous counselors objections to the report because she is the ONLY court ordered evaluator and to go against her could cause them problems in future cases. GADS!

I have a great deal of SYmpathy for parents caught sideways. I’ve experienced my Military, Big Brothers decade plus and Peace Corps. Many married/parents would suggest that I am missing something by not being married and/or having children. I respectfully disagree. My life has been great!! This thread validates my personal choice to avoid relationships/entanglements that may lead to emotional angst via the legal realities. I’m retiring in 2 years and 8 months and will eventually be acquainted with an economically sound lady to share our autumn years. Thanks to all of you who have married, procreated and educated children. You are dedicated and brave. I’m the coward but am not complaining. I regret that a minimum of 33% of your marriages are in the toilet. Sign me off as “No wives, no kids, no debts, no pets, no plants… and very happy at age 52 living on 1,300 acres surrounded by National Park.” It is great to come home to good Cuban seed cigars and robust German Beer coupled with a serene natural environment. I wish all of you the peace and serenity I enjoy daily.

thanks fighting mad..sorry to hear about your situation too. its really the kids that suffer. seems the dads that really care about thier kids are the ones really getting screwed over while the ones that could care less get it all. backwards. the system for all its concern for the "family" is really the root of 99.9% of all the problems with the family.
please be careful not showing up for court. really if you do just send her anything like i said earlier with a letter, even if you have to fake it and grit your teeth, youll appear workable to the judge and he will have a hard time doing anything drastic:) im finding the legal system is @ss backwards and what i thought was right is wrong and visa versa. just play along and youll do fine and the end result will be what you want.

In almost all cases, you are right, it is the kids that suffer the most.

My oldest, 26, that they want me to pay child support for life, I wanted to set up a Trust Fund for him instead of child support. The court wouldn't agree. He has a normal life expectency so he will need support when both parents are dead! She gets the money and takes cruises and is an alchoholic! He gets no benefit from the money I send. She doesn't buy him anything and she can support the household expenses on her own income so she doesn't need the child support for that!

OMG, what is wrong with the courts? a trust fund is a much more practical idea and insures he is cared for after both of you are gone...my question is why would she object to that? from your post i can gather that taking cruises and getting drunk come way above your child. very sad.
can you appeal? a good attorney could do wonders for you, thou i know your situation is very tight, maybe you could qualify for some financial aid or find one thats willing to take payments. i never knew what a good attny was, i assumed they were all knowledgable, but thats a farce. if you go looking for one find one thats a partner in a firm, try if you can to find one that has maybe been a commissioner or on some judicial board, look for one that does CS and divorces, but who also does alot of cases with disabilitys ect...you need some one real smart or your wife will continue to neglect your son and cruise and drink herself to death.
with her drinking problem how come you cant get custody? what an awful enviroment for you children...have you addressed this in court? did you say your also paying alimony? or was that someone else?
sounds like your x and my x would be perfect for one another. he doesnt do anything for his child iether, smokes dope all day and stays high on vicodin while drinking to the bottom of a bottle, spends money like there is no tommorrow, but god forbid his son gets a cavity and needs a filling youd think i was ripping his heart out asking him to split the cost with me 50/50 even thou our decree says 70/30.
does she withhold visitation from you, do you have kids under the age of 18 as well?? SIGH, you must really be beside yourself!

Yes, I'm also supposed to pay $1000/month alimony even though I paid for her to go and get a RN and she makes at least $60K/year!

I have a 17 son that I can't talk to or see! When he was 16 I left him use my Camry and he was supposed to pay me for the month payment after he got a job. Well, instead of paying me, my ex bought him a high cost stereo for the car and a the new fastest single SkiDoo! She had him pay her for that instead of me for the car! I was trying to have him learn responsability. When I went and got my Camry back, my ex then bought him a new Dodge SRT-4 Sport Car that he now races on the street! He is paying for that, yet he never paid for the Camry! The police know that he is racing on the street and have talked to him and her. She doesn't care that he is racing on the streets and he still does it.

Now maybe some people will see why I am so mad about what is going on!

She does all that bad stuff, even against me, and the court wants to put me in jail because I am unemployed, not by my choice!

what a piece of work. can you get anything from the cops, in the way of documentation??
i dont understand the whole alimony thing...on what grounds? its my understanding you have to have been a house wife, no education...alot of "rules" to qualify for that. seems to me maybe in your current situation she shouldnt be bothering you at all over the support or the alimony, she doesnt need it.
does your son realize that your alimony is what pays for all his perks, not her? UGH, there should just be an X pit, and when you get divorced you just kick them in to a bottomless abyss! are you sure you cant somehow get a lawyer..sounds like your really getting the shaft here.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.